The Moon's Secret
by V.C.Madrigal
Summary: Last October, Catalina Parker was a regular 14 year old girl going to high school in Boston. At least, she thought she was a regular girl. In truth, she's a demigod, daughter of a Greek goddess. Which goddess, no one knows, not even her mortal father. When Cat discovers who she is, she gets caught in a whirlwind of magic, monsters, and powerful beings.


My name is Catalina Parker, and I shouldn't exist. Sure, you might've heard that before. There might be a simple reason I'd say that. You know, if my life were simple. Well, it's not. I'm not a normal teenager, and you'd never guess why, unless you're like me, which I hope not. So I'll tell you my story.

It all began when my dad met my mom. My dad, Samuel Parker, was 20 years old and studying to be a doctor when he met my mom. He was kind, quiet, and loved the city, and my mother was stubborn, outgoing, and a nature lover. They were complete opposites, but they fell in love, everyone's favorite cliché. After a few months together, they had me, but then my mother left and never returned. I've been raised by only my father ever since. Until he married my stepmom Kara, that is.

I don't look like my dad at all, but I wish I did. I act so much like him, it would be easier to believe I was his daughter if I actually looked like him. But, no. I have straight, reddish hair and silvery eyes while my dad has blond hair and blue eyes. Dad says I look like my mom but act like him, and I have my mother's temper. Oh, joy.

Last year, when I was 14, I went to Pultzer High School in Boston. I had some friends, but wasn't really popular. I was a semi-good student, but I struggled a little with reading. The school officials say I have mild dyslexia. I never told anyone about the dyslexia, and I'm sure glad I didn't. It probably would have gotten me killed. Sooner.

One day in October, I was eating lunch with my friends when I saw the popular girl, Winter, having a fight with her boyfriend, Brett.

It seemed like she was mad about something Brett did, and he was defending himself for the first time. Quite a shocker. At the end of their argument, Winter stomped her foot and stormed away to eat at another table. Realizing there was no other table she was welcomed at, she stormed back over to her table and demanded that Brett sit somewhere else. Sighing, Brett let her have her way, like always, and stood up.

"Let's invite him to sit with us," my friend, Beth, said.

"Why?" I asked in disgust.

"I feel bad for him," Beth said.

"Beth's right," my other friend Jade agreed. "Come sit with us, Brett," she called, waving at him.

I tried not to glare at her as he came over.

Brett smiled uncomfortably as he sat down at our table. "Thanks for letting me sit here," he said, embarrassed. "Winter went nuts when I broke up with her."

"Like she wasn't nuts already!" Beth exclaimed, grinning. Then, she froze. "Wait, you broke up with her?"

Brett nodded. The table fell silent. We all sat, eating our lunch and didn't say anything.

This seemed okay with Brett. He seemed uncomfortable about breaking up with Winter or maybe he was upset about her reaction. The silence was fine with me, too. I wasn't a huge fan of Brett. He seemed so cocky and snobby to me. He was also so secretive, like he thought that people didn't deserve to know stuff about him.

I'm not the smartest person when it comes to guys, or most people, but, hey, I have my mom's temper.

As much as I didn't like him, I found myself staring at him while we ate. I couldn't understand it. I just felt this connection, this similarity, this…..attraction? No, never mind. Scratch that last one. I mean it.

Later, when Jade and I were walking home from school, I heard footsteps running up behind us. Turning around, I saw Brett running to catch up with us.

"Hey," he said, a little breathlessly, when he caught up. "Can I walk with you guys?"

"Sure," I said, shrugging. "You live across the street from me, right?"

He nodded and smiled at me.

I felt my face get pink and mentally scolded myself. _Stop that! You don't like him! He's just another one of those popular guys!_

The three of us walked on totally normal, anyways, talking and laughing. Rounding a corner, we came to a little park that was a couple blocks from my house. I felt a sudden, foreboding chill in the air and wrapped my red hoddie tighter around myself.

Brett noticed the sudden cold, too, and he got all tense, which didn't make much sense to me.

"Well isn't that cute," a cold voice sneered. Stopping and looking to my left, I saw Winter sitting on a park bench, giving us a menacing smile.

_And now I understand why he was all tense._ I thought. Except, when I looked at Brett, he looked just as surprised as I was to see her there.

"Two little half-bloods hanging out together," Winter continued, in a sickly sweet tone that didn't really match the ugly expression on her face.

Next to me, Brett went rigid, but before he could say or do anything, a seething Jade stepped towards Winter looking like she was going to punch her.

"What's that supposed to mean? _Half-bloods?_" she spit out between clenched teeth. When I realized what was making her so upset, a fresh wave of anger went through me.

Jade, you see, has a white mother and an African American father. For most of her life, Jade has been bullied for being "mixed colored" and been called the most vulgar things. When she met Beth and I, she gained more confidence, and none of us will stand for those awful comments.

I clenched my fists angrily, but something inside me seemed to whisper that that _wasn't_ what Winter meant at all.

Meanwhile, Jade was stepping closer and closer to Winter, and I knew she was going to get into _another_ one of those fights.

"Just forget about her, Jade. She's not worth it," Brett was saying, trying to act like he didn't care, but he seemed panicked.

Winter's menacing smile grew. "She thinks I was talking about her, doesn't she?" she asked and laughed.

Furious, Jade lunged forward to hit her, but seemed to hit some invisible barrier and bounced back.

"Wha-?" she started, but didn't get to finish her sentence.

Winter stepped forward and touched a finger to Jade's forehead. As I watched, incredulous, Jade turned to ice. Like, literally frozen solid.

"Jade?!" I gasped.

"Oh my gods," Brett murmured, staring at Winter in shock. "What _are_ you?"

Winter laughed again, a cheesy "evil" laugh, and started to change form before my eyes. Her blonde hair and skin bleached out to a snow white color, and her fingernails turned to black talons. Her lips turned very red. Her eyes, though, stayed the same icy blue, with her black eyeliner rings around them.

"I, my dear, am a Hyberborean naiad. And not the good kind of naiad, I might add," she answered in a clear, cold voice, grinning to show off pointed teeth.

"Hyperbor- Ice demons! I've heard of you at camp!" Brett exclaimed, his hand inching toward his wrist.

"What kind of camp do you go to?!" I asked in a high-pitched voice.

Winter laughed again. "I understand now," she said casually to Brett. He glared at her, and she continued. "She doesn't know what she is. That's why I couldn't smell her as much as you."

"_Excuse me_?!"

In the course of the next few seconds, I watched Brett reach for his watch, wondered why he needed to check the time _right now_, and then found myself looking at a gleaming bronze sword.

Winter let out an inhuman hiss, probably because she wasn't human.

"I didn't think you'd be armed," she growled, looking nervous, the evil bravado gone.

Glancing around wildly, she exploded in a whirl of snow that knocked Brett and I off our feet, but Frozen Jade stood strong. The snow cleared, and Winter was gone. So much for Brett's sword. Thank goodness for his sword!

"_This isn't the end,_" her voice hissed in the wind.

Helping me to my feet, Brett muttered, "Of all the girls in school, I date the monster."

"A monster **chicken**. An icy monster chicken," I corrected, joking to pretend I wasn't freaking out.

He looked me in the eye and obviously didn't believe my act.

I was totally freaking out, of course. Winter's a monster girl. Jade is frozen. Brett is **still** holding a sword. What just happened?!

I decided to ask Brett out loud, considering we both knew what I was thinking. "Brett? What in the world just happened?! Winter was just….Jade is…"

Brett was staring at his sword, rubbing at a spot near the hilt. Polishing it, you could say. He seemed to be weighing his words carefully. He cast a glance to Jade, still standing in her frozen position, a shocked expression on her face.

Finally, Brett turned to look at me. His face was solemn. Sighing deeply, he said, "You know all of those Greek gods?"

I frowned. "Yeah. What do they have to do-"

"You know all the children those gods had with mortals?" He cut me off, moving closer. His eyes probed into mine. They were startlingly green and kind of captivating.

I stared up at him, confused and snared by his eyes. I wondered in the back of my mind where this was going. "Yes, demigods. What about them?"

"Or half-bloods."

He kept staring into my eyes, as my breath caught in my throat. Then, he said the words that would change my life forever.

"I'm one of them. And so are you."


End file.
